A/N: Hey all! Thanks for checking out this story. Enjoy!

Chapter 5: Power Struggle

They just stood there for a second, looking at each other, eye to eye. Then they began to circle each other, slowly, like two wolves, trying to decide who was the dominant. Amy fell silent, as did every other living being on the ship that was still conscious. To Sonic, nothing existed but him and Black Eye.

Suddenly, they both struck out at the same time, their swords making a loud clashing noise as their holders clenched their teeth, trying to force the other back. Then, Sonic moved to strike again, but the pirate met his sword with another clash. And so it went on, clash after clash, going faster and faster, until their arms seemed a blur, slicing and whirling and dodging. They were stuck in a deadly dance, one where one misplaced step could result in a wound, or even death.

Knuckles wanted to jump into the fight. It wasn't that he thought that Sonic couldn't handle Black Eye; Knuckles always had a problem with Sonic getting all the glory. He didn't want to miss out on the "fun", so to speak. But as soon as he had the thought, his "guard" pirates grabbed onto his arms even harder. He snarled at them. "I'll take you on in a fight any day, Black Eye!"

"It's okay, Knuckles, I got this!" Sonic said, still locked in that vicious dance.

Knuckles grumbled, but the harder he tried to escape, the pirates locked their hands on him even tighter. Sonic is so full of himself that he thinks I wanted to help him… Of course, that was not what Sonic was thinking at all, just Knuckles' jealousy talking.

They twisted their way across the deck, up the stairs, on the rail, close to the steering wheel, knocking into the steering wheel as they went. With every turn of the wheel, the ship twisted back and forth, rocking violently, the world turning in funny directions.

The pirate ship was still tied to the steady cruise ship, but anything that wasn't latched onto the deck or something else shifted with every rock of the boat. Amy, still tied to the mast, could do nothing but scream, the waves roughly kicking up sea spray into her face. The sea spray got up Tails' nose, waking him. "Ah! What's going on?"

He glanced across the deck. The last thing he remembered, he was fighting a small band of pirates on the cruise deck. It had been slightly breezy, and the waves were mostly calm. Now, as he opened his eyes, he took in the sight of the pirate ship rocking back and forth, and the waves kicked up more, as Sonic and the pirate captain staggered across the deck, knocking the steering wheel this way and that. Amy was hanging from the mast next to him, now screaming for dear life, and Knuckles was trying to dig his knuckles into the deck so he wouldn't be tossed about. Many other pirates, limp as ragdolls, slid across the fiery deck and plunged into the salty deep blue below.

"Sonic!" he yelled, watching helplessly as his best friend ducked, barely missing the Captain's sword.

"Give me the emerald!" Black Eye yelled, making another swing at Sonic's head.

Sonic laughed. "Do you really think I would just give it to you? Seriously?"

Tails writhed in frustration. Sonic was fighting the captain. Worse, Tails was tied up, from the mast! There had to be some way he could help! He looked across the deck, searching for anything he could use to free himself.

"Then you leave me no choice," Black Eye said with a grin, "but to kill you for it."

"You wish, Black Toe!" Sonic yelled. The captain lunged forward . . . into thin air where Sonic used to be. "Hey, slowpoke!" Sonic called out from the other side of the ship. "Try to keep up!" Black Eye growled.

Amy glanced over at Tails. "Are you okay?"

"I've been better," he answered.

Tails watched Black Eye and Sonic continue the fight.

Sonic ran past Black Eye for the hundredth time, another close call with death. "Get back here, you little rat!"

"Sure, just say please," Sonic answered, smiling. He was having fun, lots of fun. Black Eye reminded Sonic of Eggman, only with worse teeth and less limbs.

But he was tired—really tired. Not "need-a-break" tired but "I-think-if-you-give-me-a-chance-I'll-go-into-a-co ma" tired. He had used up every bit of energy he had. Not even his adrenaline could fuel him much longer. But worst of all, the captain was beginning to realize it.

"I see you're gettin' tired."

Sonic snorted, "Who, me? I could do this all day! I'm just getting started!"

"If you give me back me emerald, I'll make sure yer work isn't TOO unpleasant."

Sonic scoffed, "Yeah, right, like I'd just hand it over. You're just afraid 'cause I'm gonna win!"

Black Eye faked to right before slicing out on the left. Sonic felt a flash of pain lurch through his arm. He let out a yelp. "Yer slowin' down, blue berry," the captain said. Amy let out a scream from up on the mast at the sight of Sonic, HER Sonic, with blood flowing from his arm.

He ran to the other end of the ship, taking the chance to check on the wound. It didn't look pretty. However, Sonic was used to scrapes and bruises, so for the moment, he ignored it.

The captain approached ominously, like a snake that knows it's cornered its prey. "You weak landlubber!"

Sonic could feel the fear creeping up in his throat. What if he really lost? Then what would Black Eye do to him? Would he keep his promise to let Amy, Tails, and Knuckles go? Sonic shoved the thoughts to the back of his head and lunged at the Captain, hitting his hook.

"You're slowing down, Black Hook. Are you getting tired? If you surrender, I'll try not to make you work TOO hard." Sonic ran to the front of the craft, trying to form some sort of plan.

Then a voice rang from the mast, "FIRE!"

"FIRE!" Tails cried out as flames began to travel from the pirate ship onto the cruise ship. The wind had picked up even more, causing the flames from the pirate craft to travel onto the attached cruise ship as well as moving faster across the pirate ship.

That was when Sonic made his fatal mistake. As he turned to look at the flames, Black Eye ran and hit Sonic with the butt of his sword across the back of his head. Sonic fell forward as the captain grabbed his sword.

"NO! SONIC!" Amy screamed. He stood up fast, shaking his head to clear the vapors. The captain swung, aiming for his neck, but Sonic kicked at his legs, knocking him off his feet. He took the opportunity to jump up and run once again to another part of the deck.

Tails watched the flames lick across the side of the boat and spread quickly. If he and Amy didn't get off the mast soon…he didn't want to consider that thought.

"Knuckles! HELP!" Tails yelled. Knuckles was holding on for dear life so as not to fall as the boat rocked and swayed. When he heard Tails, he stood up shakily, only to be stampeded be three pirates at once, pulling him to the ground. Tails decided he needed a new plan.

Suddenly, he had an idea. "Amy!" he screamed over the wind. "Start trying to swing toward me!"

"What?"

"I need you to try and swing towards me! I think I can get my hands out enough to untie your rope if you can get over to me!"

"I'll try!" she yelled back. Amy began swinging her head back and forth as Tails writhed to get his hand out enough to untie her. He grit his teeth and…he felt something in his glove. What the heck? Something pricked his palm, something large with many edges.

Before he could consider it more, he felt Amy bump into his side.

"Tails! Pay attention!" she yelled.

"Sorry." This time as she swung back over to him, Tails grabbed her rope and held fast. He began pulling at the knot blindly, praying for some kind of weakness in the rope. But a sailor had tied it—actually, a pirate had tied it. The rope wouldn't be coming apart in a hurry.

He looked down to see the fire spreading closer to them, threatening to climb the mast.

It was obvious that he wouldn't have time to work with the knot—the flames were spreading far too quickly.

"Ouch," he cried out as he felt the pricking on his palm once again. Suddenly, everything clicked. Sonic had passed him the emerald. Tails had stowed it away in his glove and faked throwing it to Knuckles, making sure that the pirates couldn't find it. He had been knocked out, but they had not checked him for the emerald. He had woken up to find Sonic fighting Black Eye, but he didn't have the emerald. Tails looked desperately back down to Sonic who was still fighting the captain, possibly oblivious to where the gem even was! He prepared to call out to Sonic, but caught the words before they could escape. If the pirates knew where the emerald was, both Sonic and Tails would be dead and probably everybody else as well.

Most importantly, the emerald was sharp. He held firm to the emerald while pushing his glove off. In the process, he lost his grip on Amy. She swung away from him, yelling words he couldn't quite hear, and then began her movement back towards him. He grabbed hold of her rope again, more firmly this time.

Tails began working the gem under the rope. He was all too aware of the flames getting ever closer to them. Forcing himself to remain on task, he began running the sharp side of the emerald back and forth under the rope.

SNAP! The first part of the rope broke. Without thinking, Tails repeated the same task over again. After a few more times, Amy let out a yelp as she fell from the frayed pieces of rope onto the deck.

As she fell, Tails lost his grip of the emerald and watched helplessly as his only means of escape clattered onto the deck.

Amy was having no better luck than Tails. As she fell, she landed on top of the pirates who were on top of Knuckles. She smiled, trying not to panic. "Oops?" They jumped up, causing Amy to flee to another part of the ship.

"Wait! Amy, help me! I'm still stuck! AMY!" But she couldn't hear Tails. He wiggled and mentally slapped himself for letting the emerald slip from his fingers. Knuckles was unconscious due to the pirate pile-up he had just endured. He would be no help whatsoever.

Tails' eyes widened. The fire was nearing the mast, and more importantly, getting closer and closer to Knuckles.

Sonic saw the emerald hit the deck. How did Tails still have it? Either way, it didn't matter; Black Eye had seen it too.

Unfortunately, he was standing only twenty feet from the precious treasure while Sonic was across the ship. Even if he could reach the emerald first with his speed, the captain would probably catch him.

Sonic knew it was hopeless to try and stop Black Eye from reaching the gem…unless…

As the captain began charging after the emerald, Sonic made his move. He ran straight for the gem. But, instead of reaching for the emerald, Sonic picked up Amy's hammer, which had been left on the deck.

WHAM! Black Eye ran full force straight into the mad swing of Amy's hammer, not only knocking him out but the rest of his teeth as well.

With a smile and a bow to no one in particular, Sonic picked up the green emerald, making sure not to lose it again.

His victory was short-lasting as he had a chance to really look at his surroundings. The whole deck was bombarded with patches of flame. If they didn't get off quick, they were going to sink!

Amy ran up to him, holding out her palm. He dropped the hammer into Amy's hand and watched as she swung at the pirates who were chasing her.

"We have one lifeboat left!" Amy yelled over the crackling of the flames. "We need to put all the unconscious pirates into the boat so they don't die, but tie them up as well!"

Sonic nodded and began hauling the pirates over to the boat.

"SONIC! AMY!" Tails yelled for the hundredth time, but still they couldn't hear him. He was growing desperate. The flames were already beginning to inch their way up parts of the mast and Knuckles was still unconscious. The fire was getting far too close to him.

"Knuckles! WAKE UP!" Tails screamed, fully aware that it would do no help whatsoever. That was when Knuckles' glove caught fire. He woke with a start, ripping the glove off his hand and throwing it overboard.

Tails sighed with relief to see he was awake. He shrieked again when he saw where the fire had spread. It was taunting him, getting higher up on the mast. "Knuckles, HELP!"

This time, Knuckles did hear him. He looked up at Tails and instantly saw the situation. "Hold on! I'll be right there!" Knuckles called up, pulling on a new glove. He backed up, then ran towards the mast, jumping up onto it.

"What are you doing!?" Tails screamed, watching Knuckles climb on the flames. Even from his position, Tails could see how painful it was for him. He climbed with growing desperation, so fast that soon he was just above the flames. He reached out and grabbed hold of Tails' rope, furiously untying the knot. They fell back onto the deck.

"Thank you!" Tails said.

Knuckles nodded. "We need to help Amy and Sonic. It's time to get off this ship."

"Are you okay?" Tails asked, eyeing Knuckles' hands and wondering how badly they were burnt.

He smiled. "They don't call me Knuckles for nothing. Now come on!"

Amy and Sonic had loaded all the men onto the boat; now all that was left was to board onto it and get off the burning pirate ship.

They did this in record time, running across the deck and jumping into the lifeboat as if their very lives depended on it, which they kind of did.

They rowed hard, making sure to put a good distance between their boat and the two flaming crafts. But when they were far enough away, each one stopped rowing and rested silently, watching the ships burn off in the distance.

They were exhausted. Sonic was so tired that he didn't even have the energy to shy away from the water.

"Well," Knuckles said, "That was…interesting."

"That wasn't exactly the word I was thinking of," Tails put in, "but I guess interesting works too."

"Thanks for letting me borrow your hammer," Sonic said.

"Sure."

Another moment of silence.

Sonic smiled at Amy. "Just promise me something. Next time, I get to pick our vacation spot."

"Of course, Sonic." Amy returned the smile.

"Good." Sonic promptly slumped against the side of the lifeboat and fell asleep, about as dead to the world as the unconscious pirates next to him.

The others chuckled at the sight, although they knew he deserved the break more than any of them. "Way to pop up and save the day like that, Sonic," Tails murmured to the sleeping Sonic as he took the emerald back from him.

The green gem glinted in the sunlight, scattering little flecks of green light everywhere, and the three of them smiled. This may have not been the vacation they had wanted to have, but it was definitely worth the trouble for this emerald. Being one step ahead of Eggman was always helpful.

They spent the next few hours taking turns rowing, one of them rowing, one of them sleeping, and another just resting in case the rower needed help, with the exception of Sonic, whom they allowed to rest because he'd fought the most and slept the least on the entire trip. It was lucky that the lifeboat already had provisions stored in a small compartment; they were hungry after the fight. They watched the sun set, all the more beautiful because of their recent victory.

It was about eight in the evening before Sonic bothered to stir himself from his deep sleep; he probably would've slept longer, had his friends not been jumping up and down in the boat excitedly, shouting and waving their arms.

"What is it?!" Sonic shouted frantically to his friends, sitting up immediately, alarmed by their behavior.

"Our rescue!" Amy shouted, pointing behind him. Sonic stood up and looked behind him, and there, sailing very close to them, was a small boat.

"Oh!" he said, beginning to jump up and down too. "Hey, over here!"

The boat stopped, just a few yards away from them. It was a G.U.N. boat, and one of its occupants, a G.U.N. officer, ran out onto the deck. "Hey, it's Sonic the Hedgehog and his friends!" he said to no one in particular.

"I told you," another one called from inside the cabin. She drove the boat closer, so that it was easy to walk between the two vessels. The first G.U.N. officer and a few others helped Sonic and his friends onto the boat.

"Now, may I ask just what were you doing in the middle of the ocean like that in a lifeboat?" asked another female officer.

Amy volunteered to explain, and she did, giving a very brief explanation that was just enough to explain the basics. Nobody felt up to explaining the whole thing.

"Interesting story you got there," another male officer, who seemed to be the captain, remarked. "We'll take you back right away; we need to be going back to land anyway. You look tired, so you don't have to explain it now. It'll take a few hours to get back. Feel free to make yourselves comfortable."

And they did, Tails, Amy, and Knuckles collapsing onto the luxurious seats, only Sonic standing at the nearest window. "Thanks," they all said.

After hooking the lifeboat with the pirates in it to the back of the boat (Amy having explained that they needed to bring them back for a suitable punishment for them), they shut the door and took off into the night.

Knuckles fell asleep very quickly, since he had been fighting the most after Sonic. Tails and Amy offered to stay awake to keep Sonic company, but he declined, and they, too, drifted off into a much-needed slumber.

Sonic was still tired, but he was too excited by the thought of returning home very soon to think of sleeping again. He walked out onto the deck, wind whipping his face, breathing the cold, night air into his lungs. That was quite interesting, he thought. Amy takes us out for a vacation to escape fighting crime, yet we end up having an adventure anyway.

He walked back inside to his sleeping friends and smiled. I think it was better the way it turned out, even though the first part wasn't that good.

"Thanks for the vacation, Amy," he whispered in a low tone to her, despite the fact that he knew she wouldn't have heard him. "It was great."

A/N: Thanks for reading! Please review!

bearvalley3365: Thank you, but not the kind that you are hoping for.